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Toast POS, is designed with the restaurant industry at its core, offers an all-in-one solution to manage payments, inventory, staff, and promotions. This review delves into its features, pricing, and usability, providing a clear picture of how Toast POS can serve your establishment’s needs.
What is Toast?
Toast is a Boston-based technology company that has become a leading provider of POS solutions for the restaurant industry. Founded in 2013, Toast has since grown to serve over 62,000 restaurants across the United States with its comprehensive ecosystem of software and hardware tools.
At its core, Toast’s restaurant POS system provides features for order taking, payment processing, menu management, inventory tracking, and reporting. The platform also goes beyond a standard POS, integrating with a wide range of third-party services such as online ordering, delivery, loyalty programs, and HR management, making it a one-stop shop for restaurants looking to digitize and optimize their workflows.
How Much Does Toast Cost? – Plans and Pricing
Toast is one of the best POS systems that offer several pricing plans to cater to the diverse needs of restaurants, from single-location establishments to multi-site operations. Here’s a breakdown of the available options:
| Plans | Price (lowest price) from | Transaction fee | Recommended for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter Kit | From $0/month | From 2.99% + $0.15 | Single-location restaurants with 1-2 terminals |
| Point of Sale | From $69/month | From 2.49% + 15 cents | Restaurants looking for core POS functionality |
| Build Your Own | Custom pricing | Custom | Restaurants ready to drive more revenue and optimize operations |
Toast Key Features
Toast’s POS system offers a comprehensive suite of features designed to streamline restaurant operations and enhance business performance. Here’s a closer look at some of the key functionalities:
New Product Update September 2024
With the Toast POS app version 2.78, restaurants now have more options, particularly helping servers work efficiently. One of these updates is the option to add checks when moving tables. For example, if you are moving a check from a table to another one with an existing check, you can combine the two checks. I think this feature update will help servers in busy fine dining restaurants to manage customers irrespective of the table they use. This simplifies billing processes and reduces errors, making the dining experience more efficient.
Also, Toast has now made its “order by seat” feature, which used to be a default device setting. This means that servers can assign seats to customers as they take orders. This reduces confusion when delivering food, ensures each customer gets the correct meal, and speeds up splitting checks by seat.
Toast offers modern inventory management tools to help restaurants control waste and rising costs and manage profitability. The solution integrates invoice automation, recipe costing, and POS sales data to provide real-time inventory insights and automate inventory processes.
It allows restaurants to centralize vendor relationships, orders, and product catalogs, create order guides, and schedule recurring orders to maintain par levels. Toast’s integrated inventory management capabilities are part of its all-in-one restaurant management platform.
Toast’s menu management features give restaurants an organized way to structure their offerings. Managers can create distinct menus, group items into categories, and even build subcategories for further organization. Restaurants can rearrange the order of menus, groups, and subcategories as needed, ensuring an easy-to-navigate menu for staff and guests.
The system also makes it simple to rename or remove menu components, allowing the menu to evolve with the business. By housing all menu data in one place, restaurants can efficiently manage their offerings and maintain consistency across in-person and online ordering.
Toast’s online ordering solution allows restaurants to offer a seamless, commission-free ordering experience that integrates directly with the restaurant’s POS system. Customers can easily navigate mobile-optimized menus, select the right location, and track their orders – all customized to reflect the restaurant’s unique branding.
Beyond the core online ordering capabilities, Toast also provides access to additional commission-free ordering and delivery channels, including integrations with Google, the Toast Delivery Services network, and the Toast TakeOut app.
Toast makes it easy for restaurants to handle table bookings via this feature. Hosts can create, view, and update reservations directly through the Toast web platform. Restaurants can customize key reservation settings, like flow control and deposit requirements, to match their operations.
Toast also integrates with Reserve on Google, allowing guests to discover and book tables through the popular search engine. By centralizing reservations in one system, restaurants can provide a smooth booking experience for customers while better managing their table availability.
Toast’s customer management capabilities empower restaurants to forge stronger connections with their guests. The platform’s integrated email marketing tools allow users to easily build and engage their customer database, sending personalized communications that drive repeat visits.
Toast’s loyalty program also makes it simple for guests to earn and redeem rewards, fostering increased loyalty and spend. Restaurants can further enhance the customer experience by offering digital gift cards, providing an effortless way for guests to purchase and send these as gifts.
Toast’s payroll and team management solution streamlines the HR processes that can often be a headache for restaurant owners.
The platform automates key tasks like onboarding new employees, processing payroll, and managing timesheets and schedules. By integrating these functions into a single system, restaurateurs can save time and ensure their team is paid accurately and on time.
The solution also includes HR resources like employee handbooks and regulatory alerts, providing additional support for managing restaurant staff.
The platform integrates all of a restaurant’s operations, allowing it to manage payments alongside other business functions in one place.
Importantly, Toast prioritizes security, using advanced fraud detection and data encryption to protect the restaurant and its customers. The service also includes features like offline mode and faster access to credit card sales, giving restaurants the flexibility to accept payments reliably.
The Toast Reporting and Analytics feature provides comprehensive and real-time insights to empower restaurant operators. It allows users to access real-time data on sales, menu performance, and labor metrics, ensuring they can keep pace with their restaurant’s performance.
The feature unlocks data-driven business insights through a best-in-class user interface, comparative reporting, and filters for specific days of the week. With the detailed product mix report, users can also track granular product-level performance, enabling informed decision-making around menu optimization.
Toast POS Integrations and Add-Ons
Toast offers a variety of add-ons that can improve your customers’ dining experience. Let’s look at some key types of integrations Toast provides:
- Inventory and Operations Management: Toast integrates with platforms like WISK and Craftable, allowing restaurants to automatically track inventory, calculate recipe costs, and manage beverages. These integrations give restaurants real-time information about their stock levels and costs, helping them make better business decisions.
- Employee Management and Scheduling: Integrations with Homebase and 7shifts make it easier for restaurants to schedule employees, track time, handle payroll, and improve team communication. This allows staff to focus more on providing great customer service.
- Customer Engagement and Loyalty: Toast partners with platforms like Spendgo and Thanx to help restaurants build customer loyalty programs, personalize the customer experience, and encourage repeat business. These integrations strengthen the connection between restaurants and their customers.
- Online Ordering and Delivery: Toast integrates with Uber Eats, DoorDash, and Olo, allowing restaurants to expand their digital ordering and delivery capabilities and reach more customers.
- Accounting and Financials: Toast’s integrations with Quickbooks, Compeat, and Restaurant365 ensure smooth data transfer between the point-of-sale system and back-office financial systems, simplifying accounting, payroll, and reporting.
Toast Security Features
Toast strongly emphasizes security to protect its customers’ data and devices. Its systems are designed with multiple layers of security to safeguard against potential threats.
The company ensures devices are running the latest firmware, which includes critical security updates. This prevents vulnerabilities from being exploited. Also, Toast has implemented a dedicated network exclusively for its hardware, isolating it from any unauthorized devices. Only approved devices can connect to the Toast network router, further restricting access and preventing unauthorized access points. The company continuously monitors the network in real-time to quickly identify and address any anomalies.
When using Toast systems off-premises, such as at a food truck or farmers market, robust security protocols are in place to process payments securely. The platform also makes it easy for customers to remove any non-approved apps that could pose a risk.
Toast POS Hardware
Toast offers a range of hardware solutions, including the Toast Flex, Toast Go® 2, Toast Flex for Guest, Toast Flex for Kitchen, and Kiosks, catering to different needs within the restaurant.
Toast POS Hardware is designed to help restaurants run their operations more efficiently. The hardware is elegantly designed to seamlessly blend into any restaurant decor, with a focus on being spill-resistant to withstand the rigors of a restaurant environment.
The point-of-sale devices accept a variety of contactless payment types, including swipe, dip, and tap, providing a smooth payment experience for customers. The hardware is built with a hardwired connection and offline mode, ensuring stable operation and peak processing speed, even during network disruptions.
The commercial-grade Android devices allow for seamless firmware updates to maintain device security and PCI compliance. To complement the POS hardware, Toast also provides a variety of system accessories, such as card readers, barcode scanners, scales, printers, and networking devices, allowing restaurants to customize their setup.
Toast Alternatives & Comparison
While Toast is a leading POS solution for the restaurant industry, there are several other options worth considering, depending on your specific requirements:
| POS System | Best For | Free Version | Free Trial | Starting Price | Transaction Fee | Hardware Cost | Inventory Management |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toast | Online Orders | Yes | No | From $69/month | From 2.49% + 15 cents | Custom quote | Yes |
| Square | Small Businesses | Yes | 30-day free trial | From $60/month | From 2.6% + 10 cents | $10 for card reader, terminals start at $299 | Yes |
| TouchBistro | Integrations | No | No | From $69/month | Quote-based | Custom quote | Yes |
| Lavu | Food Trucks | No | No | From $59/month | From 2.6% + 10 cents | Included in monthly fee | Yes |
| Lightspeed | Cafes | No | 14-day free trial | From $69/month | From 2.6% + 10 cents | Quote-based | Yes for higher tiers |
| Clover | Reports and Analytics | No | No | From $14.95 for professional services | From 2.3% + 10 cents | From $49 | Yes |
| Epos Now | Retail and Hospitality Businesses | No | 14-day free trial | From $99 + subscription | Quote-Based | From $349 for a complete pos solution | Yes |
| SpotOn | Multi-location restaurants | Yes | No | From $99/month +$3 per employee/month |
From 1.99% + 25 cents | Included in monthly fee | Yes |
| CakePOS | Customer Experience | No | No | From $69/month | From 2.5% + 15 cents | Included in monthly fee | Yes |
Toast Customer Reviews
Based on reviews, Toast POS seems to be a mixed bag for customers. There are many positive reviews highlighting the system’s user-friendliness, robust features, and benefits for restaurant operations. However, there are also a significant number of negative reviews criticizing Toast’s customer support and technical issues. Some customers have complained about long wait times, poor communication, and difficulty resolving problems. Because of these, the software has garnered a modest aggregate rating of 3.6 on Trustpilot.
“Toast made setup and the “go live” process so easy. This system is very user-friendly. Toast has a great staff, and their customer service is top tier. Due to their POS systems being created exclusively for restaurants, they understand our needs unlike any other POS company does. Cannot recommend Toast enough, I am highly satisfied!”
User review collected from Trustpilot
“Toast was custom made for anyone that owns a coffeehouse or restaurant . If you’re in our business and not using TOAST you owe it to your self and your guest to bring TOAST on to your establishment to experience the power and the difference TOAST makes.”
User review collected from Trustpilot
Toast does offer 24/7/365 support through web messaging, ensuring that help is always at hand whenever needed. This round-the-clock service is particularly beneficial for the restaurant industry, which often operates outside of standard business hours.
How to Use Toast – Quick Guide
This guide shows you how to navigate Toast on its mobile app:
Download and Install the Toast Now App
Search for “Toast Now” in the App Store on your iOS device and install the app on your mobile device.
Log in to the Toast Now App
Open the installed Toast Now App, then tap login at the bottom of the welcome screen. Enter your email and password (use the same credentials as your Toast web account). If you have access to multiple locations within a restaurant group, select the desired location using the icon at the top of the app.
Navigate the Homepage Overview
The homepage overview displays real-time data for your selected location and data. You can use the date bar at the top to toggle between days or select a specific date from the calendar view. You can also enable the comparison toggle to view data comparisons between two dates. Toast Now makes it possible to explore various reports like Net Sales, Labor Cost, Staff Clock-in/out, Guest Count, Orders, Sales per Labor Hour, Average Spend per Guest, Top Selling Items, and Out-of-Stock Items.
Manage Operations
You can then access the Manager Log section to post updates, messages, or announcements for your team. You can also assign categories to your log entries, toggle Takeout, Delivery, and Third-Party Ordering channels on or off from the bottom section of the app, and view the quote times for each ordering channel.
To provide our readers with accurate and well-informed recommendations, we test the most popular POS products on the market to find the best options for you. Our methodology consists of the following criteria:How We Review And Test POS Products
How to Choose the Best POS Software
Selecting the right POS software is crucial for the success of any business, as it plays a central role in managing operations, customer interactions, and financial transactions. Here are some key factors to consider when choosing the best POS software:
Assess the upfront and ongoing costs of the POS software, including subscription fees, hardware expenses, and potential add-on costs. Ensure that the solution provides a satisfactory return on investment and aligns with your budgetary constraints.
Different industries have unique requirements, so it’s essential to choose a POS system that caters to your specific business needs.
As your business grows, you may need to integrate additional tools and services with your POS system. Consider solutions that offer seamless integrations with accounting software, e-commerce platforms, loyalty programs, and other third-party applications.
Select a POS system that supports secure and reliable payment processing, including traditional methods like cash and credit cards, as well as emerging payment technologies like mobile wallets and contactless payments.
A user-friendly interface and intuitive design can significantly reduce the time and effort required for training employees and streamline daily operations. Look for POS systems with a clean, straightforward layout and customizable features to meet your specific workflow needs.
Read reviews from existing customers to gain insights into the POS software’s performance, reliability, customer support, and overall user experience. Positive reviews can be a good indicator of a solution’s quality and customer satisfaction.
Our Other POS Guides
In addition to this Toast review, we have curated several other POS-related guides to help you navigate the diverse landscape of POS solutions:
- Best POS System
- Best POS System for Restaurants
- Best POS System for Bars
- Clover POS Review
- Square POS Review
- Best Restaurant Accounting Software
